Aftermath: Our Thoughts on the HTC G1 and Android with video
The smoke has cleared, the dust has settled and T-Mobile’s G1 release event is history. We gave you plenty of live blogging action despite the fact our brand new Dell Latitude XT tried as hard as it could to screw the pooch. Then we gave you a solid hands-on gallery to feast your eyes on. Now it’s time for the wrap up; our thoughts about the HTC G1. First and foremost, don’t be fooled. In the leaked images and even in some of our gallery shots the G1 looks a bit cheap and plasticky. Seriously though, it’s not bad at all. The main case of the handset has that great rubbery feel from the Touch et al, and the phone has a very good weight to it. It’s not heavy at all but it’s also not too light so as to feel like a tinker toy. We like the slight bow of the G1 toward the bottom where the call/end/etc buttons are as it created a nice ergonomic fit when the phone is flipped sideways to expose the QWERTY keyboard. The slide on the screen by the way, is very tight and smooth. It has a great snap to it as you slide it open and closed, and the fact that it doesn’t slide straight up (the slider track on the back of the screen is shaped like “(” rather than “|”) is oddly cool. As for the keyboard there was a lot of concern but we’ll clear it up for you right now. It’s not bad at all - we’d give it a “B”. The keys have good spacing and are positioned perfectly in terms of a conventional keyboard layout (no craziness like having the “Z” directly beneath the “A” on the E71) and they have a good feel as you type. The rubber material catches your fingers well and speed demons will most definitely be able to bang out messages with a vengeance.
Now then, on to Android. We would have loved to sit back, relax and play with it all day but unfortunately we only have a few minute to cruise around and check things out. So far, we like what we see. The OS is blazing fast compared to a few competitive options and it seems to handle multitasking well. Of course the WiFi and T-Mobile networks were completely hosed so we couldn’t do much with the browser or the Android Marketplace (which Mr. Sergey Brin referred to as “the App Store” twice in his short talk!). Towards the end of the event Wi-Fi was a little less strained so we were able to catch a video of Google Maps in action. While it’s really more of a novelty than anything else, the Street View with compass mode is VERY cool. The dude giving the demo got a little excited with compass mode so you aren’t really able to get the full feel as he flailed his hand around, but it essentially places you on a point and lets you move the handset round while the vantage point mimics a person standing on the street and looking around.
The other features of Android that we played with were all solid and much more visually pleasing than we were expecting. From all the little basic apps, to finger swipes and motion animations, to third-party app integration - Android has the feel of a seasoned veteran despite the fact that we’re still a month away from the start of its rookie season. As for the near future, it is most definitely not going to fail to impress. Development is going to kick into high gear right out of the gate and unlike the restrictions Apple puts on third-party iPhone developers (no background processes, no access to much of the OS, etc) Android development is going to soar. Long story short, we’re impressed and October 22 can’t get here soon enough. A big shout is in order for T-Mobile as they did a great job of putting the event together. The location was convenient, the venue was great, everything was laid out perfectly and we hear the food was pretty tasty as well. It would have been nice to get our hands on some of it but we were busy beating the Latitude XT into submission…
“despite the fact our brand new Dell Latitude XT tried as hard as it could to screw the pooch.”
Get a mac!!!
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Yep, it’s a HTC phone. That company just won’t switch over to the better screen technology for fingers.
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Well… Zach was using the Dell. Don’t throw us all under the bus.
Posted from BGR Mobile on iPhone from: New York, NY
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“despite the fact our brand new Dell Latitude XT tried as hard as it could to screw the pooch.”
Dude, don’t get a Dell (or a mac)!
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is the touchscreen lag as bad in person as it looks on video? im sure they will update that but it looks like it takes a second to register a touch.
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179.99 with a pre-order, sweet jesus I may cry. what a beautiful price. glad to see that the BGR thinks well of this phone. T-mobile has me for at least another two years.
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The one thing I can’t seem to find anywhere is what type of “messages” are included in the $25 for 400 messages plan. Is that sms/mms only or does it include Gmail messages? Anyone know?
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I really wanted this phone, but a few G1 flaws + seeing the Touch HD + Sprint’s upcoming Android device makes me not want to pull the trigger on the G1 purchase.
If i don’t hear anything from Sprint or a U.S. Touch HD release by November i will be FORCED to by the G1
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It looked like the operator had slide the keyboard open in order for the screen to orientate into landscape mode with the maps open. Was that actually the case, or was it more for the demo?
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You know when you are not sure what to say when a girl is smart but ugly … ? you dont want to sound materialistic but at the same time you dont think you can live with her either.
Thats how I feel about it! I have been waiting for a phone for such a long time!! the htc diamond or Pro is too slow. The Xperia is coming out only in europe now (maybe it will get here in january??) and this phone just look really crappy!!
I am really not a basher I actually cant stand apple … such a rip off to buy that phone and be stuck with At&T I guess ill wait for the G2 in a year or the Xperia when it comes out!!
Is there any other phone coming out in that soon ? (please no blackberry its no entertainment phone more of a biz phone)
I feel really disappointed now … the design is exactly as in that video that came out last month …..
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Watching the recap of the press conference, my favorite part was when the google founder talks about the app he created. He says using the acceleromater he throws the phone up in the air and the program calculates how long it takes to hit the ground.
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^^^Umm the Xperia has the same hardware as the Touch Pro, so do whatever you want.
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great write up!
btw on the second paragraph, first line I think you meant “Now then…” not “No then…”
Count on me to point out the mistakes! lol.
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Hmm.. 199 vs. 179. 30 vs 25. Obviously cheaper than an iPhone, but not so much that I would consider the iPhone to be a rip-off.
BTW, does anyone know if G1 or Android supports multiple languages (like Spanish, Korean, Chinese, etc in addition to English)?
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the g1 has gps, it will allow you to chose between using towers or gps for more accurate location, just an FYI
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So, does it read and write docx files other than via the web (especially important when you are not in 3G range)? Does it have basic PIM other than web? Does it have enterprise email capacity features?
I noticed that the battery is only 1150 mah. Seems very small.
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dtest54, Not at all. The lag in the video is horrendous but it’s a result of the fact that data was absolutely hosed. When navigating through offline apps it’s very spry. With online apps, on the off chance that we happened to catch a break and caught a pipe it was very quick as well.
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Seeing the video, I have a question:
Why would “boy” “genius”, send a “girl” who is “not a genius” (not tech savvy)…
Sorry… but “So what’s the street view thing?”… “so now do we press street view?”…. “street view!!”…. “um… is that street view?”…. and all while he was in the middle of showing off the market app.
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Multitasking is paramount for me (the main reason I never got into the iPhone frenzy) and I am glad Android allows applications to multitask and has a task manager. Using the emulator, all you need to do is press and hold the Home key and a window with all running applications will open. You can click on any of them to go to it, but does anyone know how to close/kill them? Is this going to be like WinMo where the O/S is designed to kill apps by itself as memory is needed and the user shouldn’t have to? I personally hate this, since if I am no longer working with an applicaiton, I don’t want to keep seeing it in the list of open applications, but at least WinMo offers a very rudimentary task manager that’s also difficult to get to without a keyboard shortcut, but at least it’s there. Does anyone know whether Android will allow this functionality out of the box? I tried several things with the emulator, but nothing worked.
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Lenovo. Best notebooks out for now. mac? Tard?? Kidding, right? Only morons get duped in to using macs. Avid if you have to do video and you’re a pro. Why surrender maximize, right click, redundant methods of problem solving work-arounds, and 93% market share that promotes development? Those fascists, apple, LIED to you for 20 years claiming their procs were better till they couldn’t even pretend, at which point they bolstered an ad campaign to rejoice as they switched to the new awesome proc, Intel, that was bad up until they started using it. I have 3 ipods - I buy whatever product is best. You morons who use Mac because it looks pretty instead of putting a painting on your wall with your elitist hipster plight of professing your superiority for over-spending on PC components can suck a nut.
Awesome report on the g-phone. I’m excited and will buy one whether I keep it or not. I audition all my hardware until I discover a feature I can’t live with (or without). Which is EXACTLY why I fired macs. Sharp edge where my wrist crosses the notebooks leading edge, attributes of files are suddenly screwed up if I move a folder, making it unmovable/undeletable… oh wait - I can’t move a folder… I have to COPY IT, then delete the old location, which if its my music, only takes about an hour - so on a PC, its INSTANT, and on a mac, its however long your data takes to be moved. Hmmm.. yah! Sure macs are fast. No WONDER all the IT people of the fortune 500 ignore them. They’re all dumb, right? Garbage. Fascists producing garbage. Vista sucks, yes. But at least MS HAS produced some good OS. NEVER has apple. NEVER. Always fatally flawed on the most core elements. Hackintosh if you have to… but NEVER will I give those thieving sh1tbags a penny for PC hardware.
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T Mobile has me for at least another two years! I am so excited to see this phone in person. Oct 22 can’t come soon enough!
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TareX, Witty - but that was some random woman he was demoing for. I was passing by and started recording from behind her mid-demo.
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Truman: Seriously, they guy says “get a mac” and you come back with a novel. Nice of you to stick one line in about the topic, only to spend the other 500 words on a ridiculous rant. You need a date ASAP. . .and you need to move out of mom’s basement.
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Truman…..dude…..what the f*ck was that? Bob Dylan bootleg shit? Yes apple sucks. That’s all ya had to say, Rambly McJibberish
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Way to go Truman!! My comments exactly!
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